WELSH Olympic champion Nicole Cooke has insisted she has no hard feelings towards British cycling rival Lizzie Armitstead following their dispute at the World Championships last year.

WELSH Olympic champion Nicole Cooke has insisted she has no hard feelings towards British cycling rival Lizzie Armitstead following their dispute at the World Championships last year.

Cooke had been criticised by Armitstead following the Welsh wonder's fourth place finish in Copenhagen last September with the young English rider finishing seventh.

Armitstead was meant to be the team leader in Denmark but after she had been slowed up by a crash, Cooke made a decision to go for it and finished as the leading British finisher. Armitstead accused her Welsh rival of not riding for the team.

Cooke was in winter training in Perth when the comments were made and has responded publicly to this accusation after returning to Europe at the beginning of March.

"In Copenhagen I was riding to plan," explained Cooke.

"Then came the time that Lizzie isn't doing her role as team leader and isn't where she needs to be.

"We can say Ok chuck away the race and noone gets a result, or we can make the best of a bad situation.

"In that last kilometre I did try and get that result.

"Would I do it again?

"One of the big things is that on the big occasion I am a proven performer and with no team support in that race for myself and to finish fourth, within spitting distance of a medal.

"It would be interesting to see what would have happened if the team had got behind Nicole on that course. We could have won that race."

The duo have spoken since at a Great Britain training camp earlier this month and Cooke has insisted the onus was on Armitstead to address the matter because she brought the issue to public attention.

"Lizzie is the one who sparked it off so if she wanted to address anything the onus was on her to call me," added Cooke.

"Lizzie is young and ambitious and she came out with those things.

"I have forgiven her and we have moved on."

In London this summer, Cooke is set to defend the memorable Olympic road race title she memorably won in Beijing four years ago when she started the British gold rush in 2008.

But the 28-year-old insisted she would support Armitstead if required.

"If Lizzie is the leader it will meant she will have shown she up and performed well on the big occasions," added Cooke.

"At the moment we are at a stage when the legs are going to do the talking.

"I want the very best result. If Lizzie has shown that she deserves to be the leader then obviously I am going to ride for her."

Cooke has enjoyed a stellar senior career since winning the Commonwealth Games as a teenager in Manchester in 2002 and adding the world title to her Olympic gold in 2008.

And the tough Vale of Glamorgan product admitted she has had to do it the hard way.

"I started racing before anyone had heard of a lottery grant," added Cooke.

"So you could certainly say I am at a different starting point to a lot of riders today.

"How many years was I the only British rider in the peloton? At least five or six. And there was no career path to follow, not like academy riders have now.

"For me it was about loving racing and I wanted to see if I could get to the top.

"But there was not a road to get there and I had to find it myself.

"Having seen the coverage that Mark Cavendish and Bradley Wiggins get now, it would be interesting if I had my Beijing year again now.

“But that is not why I got into cycling."

And another Olympic gold could provide the perfect conclusion to her illustrious career.

"Everything is based around the Olympics," Cooke told the Times.

"If the aim was to earn half a million I would have enrolled in a tennis academy aged seven.

"There are a lot of average tennis players out there earning that much.

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